About “Work”

On “Work,” Rihanna seeks a deep, meaningful connection, however the male character she sings to (played by Drake) is only interested in sex. This narrative is similar to Rihanna and Drake’s previous collaborations, 2010’s “What’s My Name?” and 2011’s “Take Care.”

The song has a distinct dancehall vibe. Rihanna uses Jamaican Patois throughout, with terms like “work” (sex), “haffi” (have to) and “ah go” (going to) appearing in the hook.

You get what I’m saying, but it’s not all the way perfect. Because that’s how we speak in the Caribbean.

On “Work” co-star Drake, Rih added: “Everything he does is so amazing. We would go to in the Caribbean and just dance and drink and smoke and flirt.”

Snippets of “Work” began to circulate in January 2016 after the pair were spotted shooting a music video in an L.A. mall. On January 26th, Power 106 DJ Justin Credible tweeted that the collaboration between Drake and Rihanna would be coming sooner than anticipated.

One of the song’s producers, Allen Ritter, told Genius that the song originally came together at a pool party at Drake’s house.

Both official “Work” videos were released on February 22, 2016.

What have the artists said about the song?

….I felt like if I enunciated the words too perfectly, it would just not be the same attitude or the same sass. Because that’s how we speak in the Caribbean. It’s very broken and it’s, like, you can understand everything someone means without even finishing the words. This song is definitely a song that represents my culture, and so I had to put a little twist on my delivery.

She also spoke about what it was like to work with Drake.

….I mean, Drake has a lot to offer. He’s very intelligent, and so I trust him a lot with his direction. Doing a collaboration with him, you know it’s going to be great. Everything he does is so amazing. He’s so talented that you kind of just trust that it’ll be right. And plus, we know each other, so I know that whatever he writes is going to be honest, and it’s going to make sense to where I’m at in my life. That’s the difference. We know each other.

What has the co-producer, Boi-1da, said about the track?

That one came about by just having a conversation with a few producers that I work with, Allen Ritter and Sevn Thomas. We were talking about the vibe from back in the day, how dancehall music used to make people feel and make the girls dance. Everybody wanted to dance when dancehall music came on. Being in this era of trap-dominated music, I was like, ‘Let’s make something that’s a little outside the box and makes you want to dance and be happy, and makes the women want to turn up.’

That was really the idea when we were creating the track. That was the vibe. We were just having fun in the studio. We didn’t even care if it had anything to do with what’s going on right now; we were just doing something that we thought was cool for ourselves.

I wasn’t in the studio with PARTY[NEXTDOOR]. He was actually working with Rihanna. I was just at home, I wasn’t able to make it through so I sent them a bunch of tracks and she ended up picking two. They wrote two together—there was ‘Work’ and ‘Sex With Me,’ which was on the album [Anti]. I wasn’t there for the whole process of them putting the song together, but PARTY kept me updated.

[‘Sail Away’] was one of my favorite riddims coming up. I was born in Jamaica and I grew up on dancehall music. My dad would play only dancehall in the house. I really wanted to bring back the feel of how I felt when I heard that riddim, you know? I took a little sample from that and replayed the melody and worked it amazing.

[The proliferation of dancehall in pop music] doesn’t bother me. I mean, it did before, but when you make music and you make the style, you do something innovative, people are just going to do it. You could get angry about it but I prefer to just move on and do something else.

[‘Work’’s success] was a great feeling. It’s always a great feeling because you just never know. Music changes so quick. It could be one day where the music you’re making isn’t connecting anymore. So to know that my music and my production is still appreciated, it’s always a great feeling. It’s really what I do it for: respect. I just love when people love my music. A lot of people do it for other reasons, and obviously, music can change your life and feed your family. But for me, it all started with making good music.